Well, not that type of marathon. I hung up my running shoes long ago…and my knees thank me for it. But July is packed full of family and reunions and family reunions. Last weekend we went to see family out near Rochester for a wedding. (For those who want to see pictures, you can click on “chad, emily and baby oliver” link to the right to see pictures that Knut’s cousin, Emily posted of some of our time together. But that’s not all!
This weekend is the 4th of July, and everybody knows that the 4th is almost as big as Christmas around these parts…almost. I have 3 cousins on a road trip stopping through for the 4th this year: Jordan (21), Jonathan (17 and he might go by ‘Jon’ or ‘Johnny’ now…I’m not sure) and Jesse (15). Well, they’re not actually just stopping through for the 4th, but staying the next week, until the thursday after the 4th, when we head out to Inspiration Point for a massively huge family reunion on my mom’s side.
My other cousin, Joshua(17 ?), is flying in and staying with us on Tuesday. His family will follow later. Since Joshua has spent much of his life in Japan, where his mother is native to, I’ve barely seen him since he was 3. I’m so excited to get to know him better, and my grandma says he has a better singing voice than his dad, my Uncle Mark. I know of no singer better than my Uncle Mark so I’m interested to hear this Joshua-great-singer.
It’s amazing, though, how people freeze at a certain age in your mind. I was talking to my brother, Jeremy, this morning, about Jordan and Johnny and Jesse visiting me, and his reply was “they’re old enough to drive?” To which I replied “Um, yeah, Jordan is like, 21, mom says.” To which Jeremy replies “Jordan is old enough to buy beer?” Well, I’m sure Jordan isn’t spending all of his time buying beer, and will tell us of his recent travels through China during the Olympics, and his continued studies (and girlfriend 😉 ) there. But no matter how big these younger cousins of mine get, they will still be little kids in my mind. Maybe this next week will change that.
But in the meantime, here are some interesting facts: Knut grew up close to his Ronnevik cousins, and I grew up close to my Langager cousins. We are both the 4th oldest in our cousin groups, and I haven’t counted in awhile, but last I checked, we had the same number of cousins too.
Almost all of my boy cousins have names that start with “J” starting with the oldest, my brother, Jeremy, and then Joey, Jordan, Jason, Jonathan, Joshua, Joshua(yes, there are 2 of them)Jesse, Jonah, Jacob, and James, and then David. No, not my David, the cousin David, who is ironically younger than my David. Don’t confuse either of them with my Grandpa David, who both these Davids were named after. Grandpa David, cousin David, and my David will all be at the reunion.
Fortunately, not all 4 of my Uncle Johns will be at the reunion. Now that would just confuse everyone. Or, maybe it would just simplify things. Knut says it’s nice just calling any of my uncles “John” and being right most of the time. (Does anyone else have that scene from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” running through their head when the Dad introduces everyone as “Nick”?)
I do have girl cousins too, but they cannot fit into this blog post. They need their own book.
My parents will arrive just before the reunion, and will stay with us the week after. After they leave, Knut and I and the kids are headed out to an all class reunion at Knut’s old Bible school in Montana. It will be our first real vacation with just our family, and not just going to see someone…although I think we’ll be visiting with a lot of someones that we know. It’s still our family’s vacation. Don’t ask me where in Montana, because it’s near nowhere. That’s why it was called a “Wilderness School of the Bible.” It’s really in a wilderness. I’m so excited!
After vacation there is another family wedding, but one we won’t have to travel for, and I think Knut’s parents have invited us along with their other kids’ families out to the lake for some time. Because really, we won’t have had enough family/lake/vacation time yet. We’ll need to take a break from all of that family/lake/vacationing and the best way to do that is to relax…at the lake…with some family.
Whew!
Don’t worry, Silje. Kindergarten, and fall, will be here before you know it.
Penny (aka Yooperchick) says
July 1, 2009 at 5:33 amJames and I want to know…what do you eat when chinese, japanese, and norwegian relatives all get toghether? Sweet and sour lutefisk?
Kari Joy, RN says
July 1, 2009 at 6:04 amSo I had to sign in to Blogger just so I could respond to this post! Aren’t big families great? My immediate family is small, and even just my first cousins are limited, but add in second cousins (which are just the same as first cousins in our family) and WOW, there are probably over 200? or so???
It’s funny to hear you talk of all the names starting with “J”. On our Erickson side of the family, we have a lot of John Erickson’s. In fact, one of my mom’s cousins named John Erickson is the director of Montana Wilderness School of the Bible! We’re there every 4-5 years for a huge Erickson family reunion, and it’s an incredible place! I’m so excited your family will get to be there!
My brother-in-law is David and he and Julie named their son David. Brent’s grandpa is David so there are a few of those around too! It’s fun hearing you talk of all the David’s in your life as well!
Anyway, I thought it was funny to think of the great similarities! 🙂